Louisiana § RS 40:2120.2 - Definitions

§ RS 40:2120.2. Definitions

            As used in this Part:

            (1) "Caregiver" means a registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, certified nursing assistant, personal care attendant, direct service worker, home health aide, companion, or homemaker.

            (2) "Caregiver registry" means a person or legal entity that establishes a registry that facilitates referrals or matches between individuals seeking caregivers and caregivers whose services will not be reimbursed by a federal or state government program.

            (3) "Department" means the Louisiana Department of Health.

            (4) "Financial viability" means that the provider seeking a home- and community-based service provider license is able to provide verification and maintenance of:

            (a) A line of credit issued from a federally insured, licensed lending institution in the amount of at least fifty thousand dollars.

            (b) General and professional liability insurance of at least three hundred thousand dollars.

            (c) Worker's compensation insurance.

            (5) "Home- and community-based service provider" means an agency, institution, society, corporation, person or persons, or any other individual or group that provides one or more home- and community-based services as defined in this Section. The term "home- and community-based service provider" shall not include any of the following:

            (a) Any person, agency, institution, society, corporation, group, or entity that solely prepares and delivers meals, that solely provides sitter services, or that solely provides housekeeping services.

            (b) Any person, agency, institution, society, corporation, group, or entity who provides gratuitous home- and community-based services.

            (c) Any individual licensed practical nurse or registered nurse who has a current Louisiana license in good standing, and who provides personal nursing services in the home to an individual, provided that the nurse has contracted with the individual or family for such services and payment of such services.

            (d) Staffing agencies which supply contract workers to a health care provider licensed by the department.

            (e) Any person who is employed as part of a department authorized self-direction program.

            (f) A caregiver registry which establishes or maintains a registry that facilitates referrals or matches for individuals seeking caregivers, and which meets the requirements of R.S. 40:2120.8, and includes the referred caregivers who perform services for referred individuals.

            (6) "Home- and community-based services" means one or more of the following services:

            (a) Personal care attendant services, which are defined as services required by a person with a disability in order to become physically independent or to remain in or return to the community.

            (b) Respite care services, which are defined as the temporary care and supervision of a person with a disability or an infirm elderly person so that the primary caregiver can be relieved of such duties. Respite care services may be performed either in the home of the person with a disability or infirm elderly person or in a facility owned by the home- and community-based service provider who provides respite care services. For the purposes of this Section, "person with a disability" shall mean a person with a physical, mental, or medical condition or an adult who requires assistance with activities of daily living.

            (c) Supervised independent living services, which are defined as necessary training, social services, and medical services to enable a person who has mental illness or who has developmental disabilities and who is living in congregate or individual apartments to live as independently as possible in the community.

            (d) Family support services, which are defined as advocacy services, family counseling, including genetic counseling, family subsidy programs, parent-to-parent outreach, legal assistance, income maintenance, parent training, homemaker services, minor home renovations, marriage and family education, and other related programs.

            (e) Adult day care services, which are defined as a group program designed to meet the individual needs of functionally impaired adults which is structured and comprehensive and which provides a variety of health, social, and related support services in a protective setting for a portion of the twenty-four hour day. The group program shall provide for ten or more functionally impaired adults who are not related to the owner or operator of the home- and community-based service provider. For the purposes of this Section, "functionally impaired adults" shall mean individuals aged seventeen years of age and older who are physically, mentally, or socially impaired to a degree that supervision is necessary.

            (f) Waiver program services, which are defined as other services approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for home- and community-based waivers for the Louisiana Medicaid Program.

            (7) "Infirm elderly" means an individual sixty years of age or older who requires continuous care and supervision due to the infirmities of old age. Out-of-home services for the elderly are restricted to no less than twenty-four hours and no more than five days per visit.

            Acts 2005, No. 483, §1, eff. July 12, 2005; Acts 2008, No. 839, §§3, 5, eff. July 8, 2008; Acts 2009, No. 96, §1, eff. June 18, 2009; Acts 2025, No. 507, §1.